About Me

Monday, May 19, 2014

My Encounters with Shri Narendra Modi

My Encounters with Shri Narendra Modi

I share here three encounters (rather opportunities for
interaction and observation) with Shri Narendra Modiji. The first one was when
I was invited to speak on Human Resources Management in Government at Vadodara
almost a decade ago in one of the Chintan Shibirs. I gave a talk. What started
as a 90 minute session went on for two full hours. He was the only one among
all his Ministers and Bureaucrats to sit through all two hours and patiently
take notes. At the end of it during the tea break, he said "Raoji aap ko
time bahut kam mila" - indicating that he was willing to take more. This
was followed by some of his IAS officers making attempts to start 360 Degree Feedback
in their departments.

The second encounter was more as an observer, a few years
later, when I was invited for a function of Pundit Deenadayal Petroleum
University. I was among the audience. There were many dignitaries on the Dias
including Mukesh Ambani, Governor, and other Ministers. The program began
with a prayer dance. While the prayer dance was going on, one of the dancing girl’s
pallu caught fire from the oil lamps (diyyas or lights) put up there. The moment he noticed
the fire while all others were watching from a distance he instinctively rushed (ran) from the Dias down to the girl to put off the fire. None of the others had such a great
presence of mind. Status barriers etc. did not matter to him.

The third encounter a few years ago and a few months before
he was elected as CM for the third time. An Industrialist friend of mine took
me to him to suggest a 360 Degree feedback. This Industrialist friend was apparently
very close to him in his child hood schools days. He said that Modiji is a
great person with high potential. He will become PM one day. We should do a 360
Degree feedback and help him at this stage itself to recognise his blind spots.
Your methodology seems to be a good methodology to do that. So let us talk to
him. Both of us along with one of his CEOs went to meet Shri Modiji. We made a
presentation to him at his home in Gandhinagar. He gave us almost over three
hours. The way he was dressed reminded me of the day I met N T Rama Rao garu when
he invited me to start a Institute of Professional Education in AP. Dressed
informally he had arrangements for a ppt presentation at his home. He listened attentively
to all we said about Leadership; competency building and how 360 helps in the
same. At the end of it he said’ Raoji, I am very happy and open to this 360
degree Feedback. However let me tell you that as soon as I took over as CM,
your IIMA Director Dr Dholakia and Indira Parikh have organised a feedback session
with my ministers and civil servants. I was asked not to be present so that
they could discuss freely and frankly. In the afternoon they asked me to come
and listen to their feedback. I was expecting to hear from them something I
could improve. To my surprise none of them had anything negative to say. They told
me the obvious things and full of praise. So I am not how much people can be
really frank. I speak from my heart and many times soon after I speak I get a
sense that I should not have been that outspoken. But the damage is done by the
time I get this insight, and the press has already picked up. However I am open
to such feedback. I can write to Advaniji and others requesting them to give
their feedback. Please go ahead.”

We did not do it as the state elections were due in a few
months after that and we were afraid that this will go to media and they will
see this as an election stunt etc. We dropped the idea.

In all these encounters I experienced Shri Modiji as a very
genuine learner, patient listener and respectful of academics and receptive to useful ideas. He
is instinctively a caring person as illustrated by the incident where he rushed
to the rescue of the girl, from fire on the stage.

I am happy that such a person is going to lead the country.
I can also see that in Gujarat many of his initiatives have not fully taken off
with speed. A CM or a PM can only do certain things what is perhaps needed is
that everyone in the implementation machinery needs to work with devotion. His
victory speech at Vadodara is an excellent speech. He said that development should become a revolution
and it should occupy the minds of every one. Like in the days of freedom struggle
every one worked for India’s freedom, everyone should feel that they are
working for development.

My colleagues like Pradip Khandwalla and Bakul Dholakia had many
more interactions with him and were lucky to have shared their thoughts. He listens to academics and thinkers and values
their views.

I think if he fails it is the failure of all of us and failure
of India. I hope we can all work for real change. No one person can do it all
alone and this person is providing the leadership needed.

5 comments:

Excellent Rao Garu, I am also happy to note that He in one of the Interviews mentioned that he is a good "HR Manager".. I am sure this would create a great impact for our country. I am sure your inputs were very useful in building his teams. Congratulations once again to #Modiji

Good Read Sir.I saw his interview on TimesNow last week with Arnab Goswami and realized how simple and patient he is.He was respectful throughout and was very crisp in his communication.Sometimes media tends to paint a person in a hue that may be very different from reality. We must be very careful to judge people based on assumptions. I think as a PM he has a lot of expectations riding on his shoulders and I am sure his experience and balanced personality will help bring out the best in him.

Very Informative read Sir,I m very much inspired by Our PM Modiji's personality. Your article substantiated my thoughts. truly said, if he fails as a PM, The whole country will fail. we all need to work together for the development of our India. Thank you so much once again. Its always a delight reading your blog. God Bless.